This invention relates to a device for supporting hot dogs (frankfurters) above a grille surface during a cooking operation. The device comprises a handle that can be rotated to rotate the hot dogs so that the entire side surface of each hot dog is subjected to the heating action of the charcoal in the grille. The handle can be manually rotated on a continuous basis. Alternately, the handle can be rotated intermittently to allow the cooking operation to proceed while the hot dog is held in different selected positions of rotary adjustment.
In the preferred practice of the invention, the device supports three or five hot dogs in horizontal positions above a grille surface. A single elongated handle is driveably connected to each hot dog support element, such that manual rotation of the single handle causes each hot dog to be rotated around a support axis. As an added feature, the device may include a rack for supporting hot dog buns directly above the hot dogs. Heat from the grille warms the buns while the hot dogs are being cooked.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,848 to B. S. Alden shows a rotary fork structure that is in some respects similar to the device of the present invention. The Alden patented device includes a small battery-operated motor located within a handle structure for rotating a drive shaft that extends through an elongated tubular support. The drive shaft has gear connections to a pair of tines that are adapted to extend through foodstuffs to be cooked on a grille.
The rotary fork structure shown in the Alden patent is intended to be used over a fire, with the handle portion of the fork structure being grasped by the hand of the user. The fork structure is not self-supporting. The user is required to manually hold the fork structure during the cooking operation. It is not possible to set the fork structure down on a grille and leave it unattended during the cooking operation. The present invention contemplates a hand-manipulatable device that includes a flat-surfaced housing adapted to be supported in an upright position on a grille surface during a cooking operation. Two rod-like balancer elements extend in opposite directions from the housing to maintain the housing in an upright position on a grille surface. The device can be left unattended during the cooking operation.
My contemplated device includes an elongated rotary handle extending from the housing in one direction. Three or more hot dog grippers extend from the housing in an opposite direction. The arrangement is such that when the housing is positioned on the grille surface, the hot dogs are located over the coals in the grille. The elongated handle is located outwardly beyond the side edge of the grille where it can be manually grasped to shift the device along the grille, e.g., to a point where the hot dogs are in an optimum heating position relative to the hot coals. The handle has internal drive connections to the hot dog grippers, such that manual rotation of the handle causes all of the supported hot dogs to be rotated for presentation of different side areas of the hot dogs to the hot coals.
The device of the present invention can be used with any conventional grille. The device is completely separate from the grille and requires no hardware for its use on a grille.